Not Enough
by Dark K. Sly
Summary: Sometimes love is just not enough.


Melissa wasn't really surprised when Scott and Allison got back together after the whole mess blew over their heads.

She was a bit surprised when she and John found each other, though, in more than 'so, you're my kid's best friend only parent' way. He was kind and caring, and she was steady and firm, and they worked well together in more ways than she had expected.

She was also a bit surprised when she learned that Stiles and Derek were together, and that John knew about that, and about the wolves. He was okay with it as long as Derek could keep Stiles safe, and that was more than any of them could ask for.

However, it didn't really matter that she wasn't surprised by her son's choice to be with the girl he loved, she was always a bit wary of what was happening between them. And when she and John moved in together, bringing in Stiles and Derek to their mess, she remembers thinking, well, _that's_ where we'll have problems. That's what will make our days harder, the kid who is so breakable and the Alpha with so many issues. She thought that was it, it would be _them_ they source of their drama, and not the sweet girl she had gotten to know months ago, even if her family was a bit crazy.

How wrong had she been.

Derek cared for Stiles in a way that Melissa knew John never did – not because he didn't want to, but because he really didn't have the time for it. The man would be around at odd hours, sometimes, when none of them was expecting, but when Stiles _needed_ , no matter how hard the stares he got from John, no matter how much Scott tries to glare at him.

He didn't bother trying to explain his actions to anyone but Stiles, and he seemed to have it as his life's mission to make the kid happy, no matter the cost – sometimes literally, when he spent lots of money on things that Stiles would never know the price, just to see him smiling.

And Stiles wasn't any different, trying to give Derek all he could have wished for, like when their first Thanksgiving together happened, and Melissa didn't know what to do with herself, and a few minutes in after trying to make the whole dinner by herself Stiles had taken over, cooking things, and baking things, and having a certain grace in the kitchen that she could never hope to have, because in all honesty, she hated cooking and any kind of housework.

Stiles didn't really have a problem with it, and Melissa could only guess it was because without him doing it, things would never get done in his house. It was different from Scott when he lost his dad, Melissa would do things _for_ him all the time, still treating him like a spoiled kid sometimes, without even realizing it – but for Stiles things were different, and it showed in the way that he did his own laundry without being asked, or always made sure John – and now her – had a meal on time for work, how he cared about little things without even noticing. How he took over Thanksgiving dinner, making things she had only ever thought about and then dismissed for being too much work, and how much pleasure he took just by watching them eat and be happy, and specially by the smile on Derek's face, because he _knew_ that it was for him too, that Stiles was willing to always go that extra mile to prove to Derek that he had a family too, and that Derek was always certain to show him that Stiles would never, ever be alone.

They are so _right_ together, it makes Melissa's heart _ache_.

Not because she isn't happy for them – she is. Stiles never allowed her to be as close to him as she could have been, and maybe she didn't know how to deal with him either, never quite knowing how much his proximity to Scott meant that maybe Stiles needed _her_ too, but she loves the kid with all her heart, and she knows that Scott would be lost without him, but because Stiles and Derek are so right, and so strong, and so _happy_.

In a way that Scott and Allison just… aren't.

They suffer, and it kills her.

Allison is always a bit tougher than she needs to be, always trying to make sure that everyone around her knows that she's strong and independent, and Scott certainly admires that in her, but it also manages to push him away all the time. She doesn't let him take care of her, and she also doesn't take care of him, always keeping up a wall around her heart that even Scott's sweet nature can't quite break.

And every time Melissa tries to talk to her son about it, he pushes _her_ away, telling her that she doesn't know what Allison went through, the things she's survived, and all that she's done for them, and Melissa _gets it_.

Stiles tells her, one night, when they are by themselves, John working, and Scott and Derek away on some werewolf mission that has Stiles pissed off at being excluded up until the moment when Derek had taken his pale face into his big hands and told him that he couldn't even consider putting Stiles in danger, and then he had calmed down and agreed to stay and protect Melissa if need be. He tells her almost everything. About the rave and Scott and Derek and Victoria. He tells her how the woman killed herself just so she wouldn't be what Allison's boyfriend is, how Allison went nearly insane with grief, how things would never be the same for Allison.

And Stiles understands her, and forgives her in a way that Melissa knows only comes because he himself lost his mother too, and knows what kind of pain Allison must be feeling – will always feel.

Yet, in Stiles, that pain translates into a kind of selflessness, a fear of being alone that seems to be disappearing every time he makes Derek smile and show some sort of positive emotion in front of the few people he's learning to trust. Stiles is healing, and Derek makes him happy, and they seem to bring light everywhere they go, and even John is fond of the Alpha now. Whereas Allison and Scott… they hurt. Their love is there, she can see it in their eyes, how deeply and completely they care about the other, how much being apart would destroy them both, but also how being together is not right.

They are doomed together or apart, and she feels for her son, she truly does, and he can't help the little bit of envy she feels every time she hears Stiles' and Derek's laugh become a little lighter, where Scott's eyes become darker and darker.

They get into college, and Derek proposes to Stiles in the middle of his second year, during Christmas break, in his mother's favorite garden, with a ring that Peter manages to dig out of some family safe, adapted to fit Stiles and, of course, modified not to look as feminine as before. Their smiles are wide and open, and the Sheriff takes great pleasure out of torturing Derek when he asks for his permission first. Melissa is there the whole time, and she's happy – she's so happy.

She only wishes Scott could be too.

Allison and Scott get engaged a few months after that – it's a quiet affair and, again, she only finds out about it because Stiles is the one to tell her how it happens.

Allison's ring is bloody from a fight when she puts it on her finger, and Scott's face is determined when he tells his mother about it. There's no raw happiness in them, no bright spark of life and hope for an amazing future, just this brave and hard determination to make it work, because they love each other so much.

Derek and Stiles balance each other out, they heal each other in a way that makes John smiles fondly, and calms Melissa's heart, because they are just… right together.

Allison and Scott dig out the worst in each other, always trying to outdo the other and be the toughest, the most controlled.

It hurts to see them.

Allison and Scott get married in a courthouse, not many people there, just enough that their families and closest friends are aware of it.

Derek and Stiles take their time, picking the perfect place to build a house that Stiles himself designs when he graduates, as his final project.

They get married in their own garden on a bright spring morning, and they have hopes for their future.

They talk about kids and adoption, and John laughs brightly when he hears that.

Allison and Scott smile their way through it, and, when teased about it, they confess they don't plan on having children.

They love each other, Melissa knows, but sometimes, love can't solve everything, can't make things right.

Sometimes, she thinks, looking at them, arms around each other, swaying softly in each other's arms, smiling a bit, but not too much, as if someone could take their smiles away if they did, sometimes love is just not enough.


End file.
